In Spring 2013, the Estate of James Yancey revived J Dilla’s Pay Jay Productions as a functioning imprint and announced its release of Dilla’s long lost vocal album, The Diary, with the first Pay Jay single “Anthem.”“Diamonds & Ice” is the second single, a 7-track 12-inch EP slated for August 27th.ON SALE: J DILLA – DIAMONDS & ICE 12-inch EP

This EP contains what might be the two best known tracks from The Diary – one leaked years ago in the form of a low-bit MP3, and another as a short-lived promotional single. These versions – both final and alternate mixes – come straight from mixed-down masters that Dilla himself created.Long before his posthumous album The Shining (2006), J Dilla titled these two tracks “The Shining Pt. 1″ and “The Shining Pt. 2.” “Diamonds (The Shining Pt. 1)” was produced Nottz, and “Ice (The Shining Pt. 2)” was produced by Madlib, who Dilla would later collaborate with under the group name Jaylib. The Diamonds & Ice EP contains two markedly different versions of “Ice,” with one showing the musical direction Dilla would embark on after The Diary was shelved in 2002.Rounding out this EP is a Madlib instrumental that J Dilla secured for the album but never turned into the final song, titled “The D.” We’ve included this beat as a hint of what could have been.The Estate of James Yancey is administered by attorney Alex Borden and overseen by the Probate Court of the State of California on behalf of Yancey’s four heirs – his mother, Maureen “Madukes” Yancey, his brother John “Illa J” Yancey and his two daughters, Ja’Mya Yancey and Ty-monae Whitlow.

soooo over all these ep's and single's released w/ Dilla's name. What's crazy is that, if not for having heard these tracks years ago via leaks and blah blah blah, I would actually be excited for "new" and "unreleased" vocals from Dilla. For those who haven't heard these tracks, these releases must be heavenly.

I prefer some unreleased Slum tracks like this that someone posted on another topic: - - Huge props to who ever is responsible for dispersing this track

I've avoided tracking down any of the MCA tracks all these years so I'm definitely enjoying this experience.

I couldn't have foreseen an official release of the MCA album when I listened to the leak years ago and even if I had, I don't know that I could have resisted listening to the records so I commend your patience. It's a similar situation with the beat tapes too. Some of the new tracks they've released/ are releasing are beats that scumbags like myself have already spent the hours of the day marveling at so they don't do it for me. The only track that I remember absolutely loving from the MCA leak years ago was a track produced by Bink Dawg that if I remember correctly was called "Diary." Wait until that hits!!